Okay?
Well, NO, because the Courage Campaign is still going after 2010.
As the news report says,
California gay rights groups are at odds over when to ask voters to repeal the state's same-sex marriage ban, with one of the largest organizations saying Wednesday it would wait until 2012 and another announcing it would shoot for 2010...... Equality California, said Wednesday that holding off gives organizers more time to raise money and canvass voters. The group said turnout in a presidential election year will be higher than in next year's gubernatorial race and include more young people who tend to favor gay marriage.
"Emotionally, we all want to win marriage back as quickly as possible," said Marc Solomon, Equality California's marriage director. "We really think that we have a shot in the next three years. But we have one shot, we don't have two shots. We're not waiting at all. We're going hard. But we think the campaign is a three-year campaign."
Meanwhile, Los Angeles-based Courage Campaign announced in an e-mail to supporters Wednesday it would push to get a measure on the 2010 ballot.
Okay, I've HAD it with you guys. This free-lancing running around emotional stuff is crap. We lost the election the last time, in part because of complancy and emotion, and we are going to lose it again without a focused, disciplined, organized and well-funded campaign. This heart-on-the-sleeve grass roots stuff is not going to change the fact that APPROVAL FOR GAY MARRIAGE IS NOT MOVING. If we don't have EQCA and the big donors AND the faith groups and people of color convinced (when they are on our side already!) how the hell do you expect to convince anyone else? We didn't change any minds from November till now. And running around crazy isn't going to make it happen. Plus, on the ballot for a sure-loss in 2010 isn't going to help.
SO here is IT's route to success:
1). GET IT TOGETHER. Unify. ORGANIZE YOURSELVES, dammit! I want to see a disciplined, focused campaign, not a bunch of loose cannons rolling into each other.
2). identify the language. I think a "religious exemption" is going to be essential (I'll post on this later).
3). WORK in other states to keep marriage legal in Maine, and to support DP's in Washington. Learn from their experience. Use it.
4). Continue the necessary and hard work of coming out and talking and talking some more.
The enemy is already organized and ready. And they are licking their chops over attacking us again. We have to be ready this time and....sorry Rick Jacobs....we're NOT.
2 comments:
I am utterly with you on this. Courage Campaign should back off. I'm no huge fan of EQCA, but they are as close as there is to legit LGBT leadership and you don't fight a ballot measure without legit leadership.
We've seen too much of this. For example, in 2006, the California Nurse Association -- a great union -- put a clean elections initiative on the ballot without rounding up the necessary coalition and got creamed in the vote. This sort of thing sets back progress.
It's a huge danger. WTF are they thinking????
The bad guys are going out to toast this stupidity.
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